georgians cast that ballot for a new powerful problem and while scandals hold president bush really is reading. the russian punk band pussy riot set to appeal against that to get prison time after staging a month in iraq has made the fatal. if you cared bits of political benefits to plan for the secret courts with avoiding complicity in torture charges the main objective. international news and comment live from moscow this is all see with me. and

welcome to the program georgians are heading to the polls in what has billed as a landmark parliamentary vote for the country president mikhail saakashvili is reading policy faces a tough challenge from the united opposition with his campaign hit by allegations of corruption and the prisoner abuse scandal. reports now from tbilisi. running in this election but the main battle is understood to be between the party of the president the ruling party of the united national movement and the businessman whose fortune makes up almost half of the country's budget a mystery ivanishvili has sponsored georgian dream it's actually in fact an alliance of six opposition parties on saturday the country saw the biggest political rally in its more than history with two hundred thousand people protesting in the streets and definitely this adds a lot of spice to this election the importance of this election is that. really steps down next year the parliament of the majority parliament will be able to

elect the prime minister who according to new amendments in the constitution will have almost the same powers as the president so definitely the party which wins this election will have the future of georgia in its hands right now this service suggests that the ruling party is in a slight lead but still the opposition still has a very good chance to be victorious in this election as this election seems to be pretty much unpredictable given the latest twist of events in georgia with the political election campaign ahead of this vote has been very very turbulent first the businessman mr vanished really announces his participation in the election and he is then being stripped of the georgian citizenship fined for about ninety million dollars for as it was alleged using techniques in winning the electorate then in september the footage of prison torture and abuse was released in georgia which caused massive outrage in a country with hundreds of thousands hitting the streets and a thing which troubles the opposition and many in georgia the most is the

allegations by the opposition that the country is gradually emerging into a police state with the torch in prisons with the ruling party with the government suppressing any kind of opposition on television and the judicial system also being very much under the thumb of the current president and he is part of the for. prime minister in fact a former ally of saakashvili. once described saakashvili as bolshevik rule and that he was countries getting more or three cherry and so this definitely promises to be a very tight race we will certainly be bringing all the latest exit poll results as they come out later during the day. massive protests following children's prison abuse scandal money refused to buy and president saakashvili promises of transparency and democracy. reports what's behind the country's image. friend you would think banks restaurants and

a western style face with in general is definitely something georgian authorities can be proud of the class was in police stations and many other new government buildings saying that creating an image of a completely transparent state system but is it merely an image that recent footage of alleged torture and sexual abuse of inmates in prisons has shocked the georgian public many are comparing it to cases from guantanamo except it contains suspected terrorists and these are ordinary georgian inmates. moreover the former senior staff member of one of the prisons who leaked the footage claims president saakashvili is perfectly aware of the torture. thousands took to the streets in protest demanding the arrest and prosecution of all those responsible while a burning broom has become a symbol of the opposition since this is what the authorities are accused of using for torture in some of the videos this will not be tolerated opposition activists

dodges agree or claims over six hundred people have been tortured in prisons and nationwide many died he says to me our goal is to make sure the election is without provocations and the people who committed these crimes are punished especially mikhail saakashvili duchy was arrested by traffic police the day after we met officially for resisting orders he was given ten days in prison meanwhile to save face president saakashvili was busy sacking the police chief arresting all the officers shown in the video footage and substituting the staff in all prisons with police but both his and the ruling party's readings still dropped my newly twenty percent. a large portion of the government supporters used to come from several servants now many of them are resigning in a crossing over to the opposition with an average salary around four hundred euros down. and poverty is another issue sparking public disapproval in shiny new

buildings that georgia with a population half the size of paris changes going to happen the question is how bad the georgians want them he got the skin of the. the three members of the russian punk band pussy riot are turpin caught in moscow to appeal against their prison term they were sentenced to two years in jail in august for inciting religious hatred during a political protest at russia's main cathedral there that expired controversy in the country and abroad. thomas for. today is a part of the appeals process of specifically for the sentencing and let me go back a little bit give you some of the details of what happened back on february twenty first members of the pussy riot a punk a brew performed what they called a punk prayer in moscow's christ the savior of the drill which is the russian orthodox as it made it could be and they were then arrested for hooliganism you

know during the summer there was a trial and a media frenzy that surrounded it and in mid august they were convicted of hooliganism specifically motivated by religious hatred they were sentenced to two years at that time now today it is possible that they could it be acquitted entirely but that is not expected to happen lawyers for the defense are hoping that it there will be a reduction in the sentence maybe that by as much as six months it has been very controversial on an international scale in fact there has been support for the group the media frenzy and calls from different western governments for leading and see major artists like bjork madonna and the red hot chili peppers have called for leniency as well now this is also caused a lot of copycat crimes if you will or incidents in support there is an incident in ukraine where a woman took a chain saw to a crucifix and destroyed it saying that this was in solidarity with pussy riot and also in cologne germany and over the main cathedral there a group of three people got up in the middle of a service and staged a protest there they were arrested at their trial is supposed to begin this week as

well in russia the country itself where this all took place it has been more deeply divided in fact this is a very religious society there are people who are very offended by this the fact that this took place in one of the main orthodox cathedrals and they even wanted a much more harsh sentences saying that some of the stunts that pussy riot had to perform in the past were very offensive now prime minister medvedev has said that he doesn't see any reason for them to spend any more time in jail saying that the time served is enough and president putin has said that he is staying. completely out of the process not wanting to get involved here of course there is considerably heightened police presence a lot more security than normal also a lot of journalists abroad to cover this particular court case in fact we're told there are supposed to be rallies planned today both for and against the members of pussy riot london's plans to set up a new system of secret cause has been rejected by one policy in the coalition the

liberal democrats but it's might still see the light of day documents show the government of the missing secret hearings would allow the u.k. to easy to defend itself from such allegations as being complicit in torturing detainees abroad. looks at what they motion and. nipping charges of complicity in the bud that's what the u.k. government admits it's trying to do with its plans for secret courts ministers have argued that more secret courts a needed is to protect sensitive information and the workings of security agencies but in documents seen by the guardian newspaper the government acknowledges it would benefit politically able to defend itself from allegations like complicity and torture without the details ever becoming public to have been a number of cases where the government was the government's lawyers have tried to shut down court hearings and have been heard in private as

a minute has transpired true that your dish will process that what they were really trying to cover out was a lot of government embarrassment about wrongdoing our main would be media agencies that these proposals if they're passed will sweep away hundreds of years of the british legal tradition the proposals follow a law suit brought by binyam mohamed who was held in guantanamo and all good the british government was complicit in his rendition and torture mohammed won the case to the d.p. merely a sion of the government and now they're trying to change the law so that government often a party in these matters would decide if a case should be heard in secret it wouldn't just be kept from the public if the proposals go ahead neither the defendant nor the defendants legal team would be able to hear the evidence against them human rights lawyers are concerned it would trample on the principle of a fair trial in effect a large chunk and presumably a very important chunk of the case that you're trying to run about are fewer client

you're going to be. they're going to behind closed doors closed sessions you were not allowed access to so if it isn't unheard on furnace there is a huge scope for it to future miscarriages of justice evident. m i five and m i six knew that britons were being tortured in guantanamo m i six helping to deliver libyan dissidents into the hands of gadhafi secret police critics say that's the kind of information the bill is designed to suppress so beg who was held and he alleges tortured him by graham and guantanamo has a special interest in making sure there are no more secrets i remember the discussions that were taking place at the time it was very old former guantanamo prisoners on one side sixteen of us and a whole bunch of government officials on the other side having a discussion negotiating a settlement we would have been able to do that basically we would have been able

to certainly try to take the government to court but we would have to do it with our hands tied behind the back even the government admits that black and asian muslim men will be disproportionately affected as it's they who are most often involved in cases where sensitive information is being considered and still the bill rolls on the plans for so-called secret justice are proven so deeply controversial that they've been delayed but like a bad penny they keep turning up and every time they do it gives human rights groups another opportunity to rail against proposed legislation they say goes against one of the founding principles of the british legal system not only that justice is done but that it seemed to be done laura smith forty london. and coming out on r.t. calling for an end to the rule of brussels thousands of new crowd onto the streets of paris to demand an end to topple stammers that's plaguing the people. this and

much more ahead for you after the break to stay with us. looking at some dogs you simply do not believe they come speak and goodness how they can wrong oh. it's an international sled dog race with those driving the dogs. coming from as far away as a strength in canada and the u.s. i come to russia and everybody is so very friendly they welcomed me with open arms and the scenery is so beautiful it's very much like a laska and so i felt at home the first sled dog was brought here from australia now let's try and come to this remote russian village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail are amazing but even more amazing is the story of how racing

first started here atoll it wasn't the top. grazing who set the trail of place but a nun and for all friends who brought their dia to life. five years ago of a bill to dog kennel in the village kids from the local open h. came round to take care of the dogs and one day they state their life might seem extreme to some the boys wake up at six to feed the dogs before school in the evening they spend up to three hours training their full legged friends but smother her scare also encourages her kids to become depth hands on the computer and internet the boys regularly update their websites and they're in touch with the busy mother twenty four seven on the phone itself. but children are the most important thing my only interests not play any rule any more and regardless of whether parsky has huskies window race or not she hopes the composition will take

place in the village next year. but called these dogs and the children it really is not the winning but truly just the taking part that counts. wealthy british style. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max culture for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our.

welcome back you're watching artsy now thousands have swarmed the streets of paris to call for an end to tough austerity measures and take decision making back from the hands of brussels president or land has unveiled thirty seven billion euros worth of tax hikes but people are most angry about the proposed fiscal parks which would see over spending nations penalized by the aussies more if an option explains now why the treaty is so unpopular. it was prepared earlier they smart by e.u.

leaders including the president of france nicolas sarkozy and and german chancellor angela merkel and and forces stricter fiscal discipline from the u. members and it requires them to slash the public deficit oh to be punished to be fined critics and people who've come here say these pact is all about control the brussels want to have over the european union members if they streety is ratified that means france will have to will be obliged to reduce its budget by thirty billion euros and of course it will affect life in france dramatically the life of ordinary people i mean this budget document says is it was overdue ready it's been reviewed recently and it says that it proposes to save thirty billion euros by cutting public spending and by increasing taxes and of course this is something it's not going to help economy growth but instead may lead to stagnation this is

what people of come hate are protesting against. we don't want i was thirteen frightened because europe wants to pressure us to stop our country from investing in public sectors like education bill with this we are protesting against the sterett in europe and everybody knows that hysterically leads to recession from the cities we are against the imposition of the austerity plan it will be very difficult for us of course we don't want that. but austerity measures have led to national wide protests in many countries and the protesters have been clashing with police ols road to europe and many here fear that france could be the next country to face this reality was dramatic reality and they say they've come here to protest to a void these negative consequences and not to repeat the mistakes of other e.u. members reflection on. team kerry. don't forget you can always log on to our

website article if you missed any of our stories and here's a little of what's lined up for you there right now this may change for all of you now as a force will typhoon lost its way towards talk hero for on you tube channel. plus wedlock around the clock couples in the u.k. can now get hitched any time nobody's house for you on our team dot com. at least fourteen people have been killed and over sixty eight injured in a suicide attack in eastern afghanistan a man dressed in a police uniform blew himself up in the city of haast it's believed he was targeting a convoy of nato troops and afghan security forces near a local police headquarters this comes as the u.s. military death toll in the war reaches two thousand after a firefight at a checkpoint also in the east of the country and i heard a soldier and a civilian contractor died when their i've been colleagues opened fire and

political analyst ahmed qurei she believes america has brought this lies in violence upon itself. it's quite obvious that the united states military is leaving behind a new our faction or a new militia in afghanistan in addition to the dozens that already exist in the mood for into the of gun national army at least parts of that are well trained by the u.s. military and this national army is now turning against its benefactors as mentors of gun national army is is one of the blunders of the u.s. military in afghanistan in addition to. the midst of created in that country over the past decade three thousand american citizens died on nine eleven the u.s. military blunders resulted in addition old americans dying of mine is done over the past decade and these are the american soldiers in afghanistan this nurse basically belongs purely to the u.s. military to pentagon to the cia because of limestone has been their baby. and out

to some news in brief form around the world this hour bangladeshi muslims if you're a photo of burned koran on a facebook account have torched turned buddhist temples the picture was allegedly posted by a buddhist teenager rises attacks a buddhist communities injuring dozens of people the boy however said the photo appeared on his account by mistake his parents have been detained and an investigation launched. the phonies police have also been to ruth protesters and dismantle barricades from around the u.s. marine base in this way to their advantage local residents protested against the deployment of american also three planes and staged decision in front of the entrance to the base the demonstrators say the aircraft's safety record is not up to standard following a series of clashes in the past. and the newly released media reports lane's former libyan leader moammar gadhafi might have been killed by a french assassin who mixed with the revolutionary brigades these challengers the

fischel version that he was murdered by a rebel fighter after being cornered in a drainage pipe sources claim paris wanted to silence gadhafi over his alleged links with the french government and election campaign financing. time for business with natasha now and what's the sentiment on the markets this hour well or say it's pretty much a mixed picture european equities start of their first quarter trading session flat to posit over those spain's health remains. spain's doubt will continue to rise next year are following the pressure on the street it has been struggling to cut spending the nation's debt will reach eighty five percent of the g.d.p. this year and it will go up to ninety one and twenty thirteen that's almost three times more than before the property bubble burst in two thousand and eight analysts believe it's only a matter of time before spin requires a big deal. out back to the markets here in russia what we're seeing is actually

we're seeing the currencies here and the currencies are the russian ruble is actually losing to the currency basket at the moment and to the euro is raising its gains to the year was dollar. the russian markets raising friday's gains of the second hour of their trading one of the main gainers on friday will spare bank on the news that it has finalized its takeover of turkey's dentist bank. said his bank ranks among the top ten banks in turkey the deal is worth three billion euros the cash will help that as banks parent company dixie a lower debt for its very bank it's the second largest deal of the year a few months ago it bought austria's vaults bank international and what we're seeing in asia is that nikkei is shedding a value and that's after the bank of japan's a survey showed that the mood among manufacturers is worsening and chinese

manufacturing activity is also deteriorating hong kong's hang saying would have reacted to it no doubt it has if it had not been a colos for a holiday on monday. and that's all we have time for in the situation of business see back here in fifty minutes. and shortly a piece of al and his guests debate whether we're going to see in our winter that some crosstalk off next. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images grope world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day.

there are those who desperately need it to survive. misspoken who is the to give money to look. good when the fish. on the suppresses the cries the rights of the food for. those who don't get their share of the traits. good by god's. grace and you know don't last but not the one not us that people need to know about it that may not look any from the company from. those who suck it out to prosper. inside the seeds.

from you not from. some. nice licensee. no one can live without it's in one of the largest blood banks in the world. blood of nigeria. on r.t. . download the official ati applications to cell phone choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from alzheimer's t.v. is not required to watch on t.v. all you need is your mobile device to watch r.t. any time. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you

don't know i'm trying hard welcome to the big picture. player. play. live. live . live live. overcoming a barrier like this seems possible. but then you crave something higher. and when you reach the peak.

you'll do whatever it takes to get on the top of the world. are two. live. little lives. play live. our lives and if you live. our lives and you want to build simpler. hello and welcome to crossfire thank you to live out from the arab spring to the arab winter where does this great liberation project stand in the arab middle east and where's it going are the forces of reaction including the western powers again in control of the pace of political change and is it inevitable that we will have to accept the idea of islamic democracy. little. bit

a little slip. across that the winds of change i'm joined by are used then and now why. washington he's a research director at the set of foundation in berkeley we have shapiro he is a freelance journalist and contributor to salon dot com and in london we cross do not seem ackman he is a senior researcher at the palestine return center all right gentlemen cross-like rules in effect you can jump anytime you want and i see if i can go with go to you first i mean where is the arab spring going we're literally on the far right now is a winter approaching for the arab spring i think so far. nothing settled at the moment the dust from the arab spring which started three years ago has not totally settled but having said that there are many positive signs within within egypt the. morsi has made very very strong.